With three decades of experience in education in Yolo County, first as a teacher, then as a principal and finally as an associate superintendent, Ginni Davis found her calling as a CASA board member because she saw firsthand the difference CASAs made.
“Children would be at a certain school for a period of time and then disappear. There was only limited information that followed these children when I looked for it and I eventually figured out they were all foster children. Foster parents have heavy caseloads so it’s understandable that they can’t be at all the parent teacher conferences. However, I started to meet some CASAs and saw what a difference they made. It was then that I knew this organization was something special.”
Ginni has three children of her own and volunteered for many causes throughout her life. Add a busy career to that and finding time was always a challenge. “Like most, I never had enough hours in a day. In education there is always more work to be done. However, after being a principal, I decided I was going to make time for CASA. I had too strong of a desire not to do it.”
Two decades later, Ginni has remained on the board and is now board president. In the early days, Ginni highlights that the budget was tight and CASA’s community presence was much smaller. “We built from nothing, struggling to find people to be on the board and stay on the board but we kept at it. We now have an incredible executive director and board leadership, all of who build key relationships in the community and with other agencies.”
With strong leadership now in place, Ginni is currently focusing on continuing the organizational growth and succession planning for the board to support the Yolo County CASA’s 2020 goal of providing every foster child in the County with a CASA. Supporting this, she cites research that foster children with CASAs spend less time in court and are less likely to need long-term foster care. Foster children with CASAs are also more likely to pass all of their courses in school, display controls against deviant behavior, work out conflicts better, value achievement, and are more interested in their communities as adults.
“Knowing this, I can’t imagine why I wouldn’t give my time and financial resources to Yolo County CASA. The way I see it, I make an investment now so that an innocent child doesn’t have to pay later. I’ve repeatedly seen CASAs level the playing field between foster children and children who have a safety net of a consistent family structure. As long as I am able, I will continue to champion for the training and support of CASAs so that more foster children have a fair chance at leading the kind of lives, both as children and adults that the support of a caring, trained adult can provide to them.”
Thank you for your dedication, Ginni. You have changed the lives of many.
